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WAYJO’s King Street Corner Pocket Festival packs 55 jazz gigs into half a dozen venues over three days

David CusworthThe West Australian

Saturday, 6 July 2019 12:02PM

Camera IconWAYJO Monday Night Orchestra Downstairs at The Maj, with Sophie Bennett on trombone at front.

REVIEW DAVID CUSWORTH 3.5 stars

A gentle, playful sound spilt into Hay Street from the Dress Circle Bar at His Majesty’s Theatre, guitar and drums mingling with the steady winter rain.

William Chiew and Ben Griffith, aka Bill and Ben, were first off the rank for WAYJO’s Corner Pocket Festival — 55 gigs in half a dozen venues over three days — a jaunty amuse-bouche for the feast.

Downstairs at The Maj another young combo, Five Pillars of Salt, mixed Matthew Salt’s mournful sax with Thomas Freeman’s lilting guitar and Wayan Dana’s mellifluous bass in a crisp collage by turns Latin and fusion.

Salt’s finale, Trust the Journey, paid homage to his six years at WA Academy of Performing Arts, a fitting tribute to two generations of pedagogy that underpin a thriving scene.

A block away at Cheeky Sparrow bar, The Island Trio of Kieran Barnes (bass), Ryan Daunt (drums) and Tim Voutas’ keyboard explored The Great American Songbook, well suited to July 4. An up-tempo Summertime rolled through tight modulations of the familiar rhythm, animated ivories giving way to velvety strings and deft drumming.

Voutas played the jazz intro game — “let’s see if they can work out what this one is” — for It Could Happen to You, morphing to Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise, an absorbing ambience in a boutique venue; the musicians as exposed as the roof beams in the Cheeky Sparrow Loft. CDs were on sale; another stage on the pedagogic continuum.

Barely a bar’s rest away, Daniel Susnjar’s DSUS Afro-Peruvian combo rocked the Sewing Room. Guest singer Adolfo Chavez lent spice to a rumbustious, rumbling carnival all of its own (hold that thought). Jungle rhythms in bass and guitar launched vocals over multiple drums and horns. Another step on the journey, Susnjar brings home a rich harvest from overseas adventures.

Back at The Maj, Libby Hammer kept the flame of the torch song alive, the sultry tones of a stand-out swing singer delivering delicious extremes of expression and diction.

From the dark underbelly of South Pacific’s You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught (to hate and fear), to the beguiling strains of Jobim’s No More Blues, one of Perth’s treasures was nobly backed by Nick Abbey (Bass), Ben Matthews (piano) and Mike Perkins (drums).

At the Sewing Room, Nueva Salsa Orchestra picked up the lascivious Latin vibe. Trumpeter Marty Pervan and Co set this joint alight last year and the flame still burns.

Rousing rhythm, strident horns and sheer mesmeric energy had couples sinuously entwined on the dance floor, while curiously not one, but two guys in Driza-Bone spun like tops amid the throng.